Makeshift
by OtherTales21
Summary: Strange world? Check. No memories? Check. Monsters trying to kill me at every turn? Double check. But hey, at least this merry band of warriors/pig-racers are willing to help me out...or get me killed. Kind of hard to tell these days. The only thing I know for sure is if I can survive long enough, maybe I'll find someone who can help me remember who I am and where I'm from.
1. Chapter 1

_Hello all!_

_Thanks so much for taking the time to check out this story. It's my first Minecraft fic even though I've been playing since 1.10. Now that life's not getting in the way, I'm getting back into the game and I'm super excited by all these new features and mobs._

_This is a story idea I've had for a while, but when I tried to write it before, it never really clicked. Now I think I finally figured out how I want to write it so hopefully it'll be something good._

_Any feedback you can offer would be awesome, especially if there's anything about the mechanics of the game/world that I might have missed._

_I should have the next chapter up pretty quickly so keep an eye out! Thanks!_

_-OT21_

* * *

**AWAKENING**

Three days.

I'd already been in this strange, hypnotizing land for three days. Memories were coming to me in flashes. I don't know how I knew them but they'd pop up in my head like flashcards at just the right moment. Like when I first opened my eyes.

Instead of remembering my own name, the first thing that came to mind was how to punch a tree, which I guess came in handy because I was surrounded by them. Dark-wooded, cubical giants that loomed over my head, letting only speckles of sunlight sneak past their leaves.

If you punched a tree, you got wood. Wood helped you make tools. Tools helped you get coal. And that's one thing you definitely need, especially when the night comes.

When the sun began to dip towards the horizon, pulling a lavish veil of purples and blue and peach-colored clouds across the sky, a quiet yet overwhelming sense of dread washed over me.

Every fiber in my body screamed: _Gotta hide! Need shelter! Need light! They're coming!_

So I ran. I climbed. I chipped and chipped away through the dirt and stone. And I crafted. All of this until I was tucked away inside a tiny, cold hidey-hole in the side of a huge mountain. But at least I was safe.

That was when I heard them.

The groans, the scratching, the chitters, and the hissing. All through the night. If they came close enough, I could feel their movements vibrating through the ground. I waited and prayed for morning until I finally fell asleep against the rickety crafting table I had made.

When I woke up again, there was a book next to me. Green and leather-bound with the words "Recipe" on the cover, it looked brand new and untouched, but I knew someone had to have left it here. When I ran outside to try and find them, I was hit with blinding sunlight. The creatures were gone and relief washed over me. But I quickly realized that it only meant I was still completely alone. When I opened the book, the first few pages were filled with diagrams and lists of all kinds of strange objects, recipes, and weapons but the rest of it was blank.

It had everything I needed to know to survive but nothing about me or who I was before all of this.

Except my name.

It was etched on the inside of the front cover in simple letters.

_KIT._

This made me smile to myself as I traced the letters with my fingers.

It felt like the right fit. So that was one question down and about a million more to go.

Either way, the name and the book were mine now so I took them both and ventured into the strange and hypnotizing land.

* * *

My legs were starting to burn under my weight, but I didn't dare move or breathe as I crouched low in the tall grass. I pulled on my bowstring just a little more, pinching the nock of the arrow just a little tighter. My mottled-green hood was pulled over my head just enough that I could still see the chubby sheep grazing at the bottom of the hill. It still hadn't seen or heard me.

Good. It meant that my disguise was working even though I probably looked like I'd just spent the night puking all over my tunic.

The only downside to my disguise was that my slightly-less-cold hidey-hole smelled like burnt cactus but at least I could blend in better with the surrounding forests no matter where I wandered. It made it easier to hunt and, more importantly, stay hidden from any monsters still hanging around, especially the creepers.

Oh man, don't even get me started on creepers.

I could usually avoid them for days but it was always when I least expected it that one of them always found me. And you don't even know they're there until you hear the hissing. After that, you've only got a few seconds to get away before boom.

And trust me, you don't want to find out the hard way because by then, you're dead. It was two days ago when I first ran into one and my hands still trembled when I thought about it.

The explosion isn't as loud as you would think, but like someone breathing into a long tube. It's the ringing in your ears that's hard to deal with. It's suddenly finding yourself flying through the air, debris whizzing by and cutting at your face like tiny knives. It's trying to remember when you did hear the hissing right there in your ear and realizing it was too late to do anything about it.

I shook the thought away as soon as I heard the crunching sound as the lamb chewed on the grass. And that was my moment. I released the arrow and whistled through the air in one instant shot. There was a dull _schlock!_ And then the sheep collapsed on its side.

I jumped up and shook my legs back awake, slung my bow over my shoulders, and ran over to collect what was left of my prey. Like I expected, it had disappeared in a poof. No blood, no body, just two soft, snowy blocks of wool and a chunk of raw meat sitting in the grass where the lamb used to be. A perfect hunt which meant I was one step closer to finally sleeping in a real bed and I was going to have a real dinner tonight instead of mushroom stew _again._

I scooped the wool and meat into my bag and headed back home.

There were still so many things I was trying to get used to in this world. And since the day-to-day survival was becoming easier to manage, it gave me more time to think about everything else only to realize that all I had were questions.

Why was everything made of blocks?

Why did the monsters only come out at night or in the shadows?

Where was everybody?

I climbed over a hill, trekked past a few grazing cows that didn't even twitch as I went by, and waded through the maze of giant dark oak trees before I saw the familiar glow of the torch hanging over my door. My hidey-hole was no more than a small rectangular room with stone floors and a low ceiling. But at least I had a proper door now.

And the cactus smell was almost gone.

A smoldering furnace, crafting table, and wooden chest sat in the far corners while the other side of the room was bare in the light of the torch hanging from the wall. I stuck the raw mutton inside the furnace and in no time, a bright fire wormed its way through the coals. It sizzled behind me as I grabbed the wool from my bag, and opened my chest to grab all the other items from the pile of random resources I had collected over the past few days. Once I put my bow and tunic away, I was left only in my blue pants and light blue shirt.

I flipped through a few pages of my recipe book until I found the one for a bed. Following the instructions carefully, I laid three blocks of wool in the second row of squares etched on the surface of my crafting table. And then I laid three blocks of wood along the bottom row. The next thing I knew, a soft light began to emit from the square and once it faded, a perfectly crafted wooden bed with white sheets and a pillow sat on top of the table. When I picked it up, I was surprised by how light it was that I easily carried it over to the other end of the room and set it against the wall. Then I let myself collapse on top, and it felt like sinking into a cloud.

Crafting.

I knew what it was but I didn't know how I knew that. It just seemed like the right word. Creating tools and weapons from scraps of items or whatever was mentioned in my recipe book. Wherever this book had come from, it was the only reason I had lasted this long. And every time I found a new item, the blank pages of the book would fill themselves with new recipes and instructions for me to learn. It was just another one of the many mysteries of this place.

I wanted to sleep but it was still daylight outside and one thing I had learned was to use as much of it as I could to get whatever I needed because once night fell, monsters would swarm area until dawn. So I rolled off the bed and grabbed my bag, and my wooden axe and sword from the chest. I had only made them a few days ago but they were already starting to crack from use. I maybe had a couple more swings out of them which I could probably use if a chicken or cow happened to wander by.

Even though the sun was still high and bright, the air was starting to cool down.

I headed for the small clearing on the other side of the rolling hills where I had first woken up. It was dense with trees some of which I had already scavenged from but hardly looked like it with their thick, wide trunks. I set my bag down and started chopping away with my axe, falling into a rhythm with every strike that rang in the air.

It was a lot faster and easier than punching at the trees but it was still hard work that made my body heat up and sweat start to break out on my forehead. After a few swings, the blade splintered and broke off. I tossed the rest of the axe to the side and knelt down to collect the blocks of dark oak logs I had chopped free.

Then I heard it.

_Hisssssss._

Everything seemed to slow down after that. I knew it was there before I even turned around but as I did I saw its body writhe and swell as if it were sucking in the air all around while its scaly greenish skin began to ripple. The hissing grew louder and any moment it was going to explode.

Until it disappeared with a pop, leaving only a faint wisp of white smoke and a dark gray lump that landed in the grass along with a stray arrow.

I picked up the lump and turned it over in my hands. It was rougher than coal and was more like clumps of sand stuck together. I barely had time to wonder about this when I felt a tiny prick against my back as an icy voice said:

"Drop it or I'll shoot."

* * *

_So that's it for the Prologue/Chapter 1! I promise things will start getting more interesting soon. Thanks for reading and all your support!_


	2. Chapter 2

_Woo! Next chapter is up!_

_Huge thank you to everyone who's taken the time to read and review already. I'm very excited and grateful to you._

_As always, I would appreciate any feedback to help me improve the story. Minecraft is a weird world that's both fun and challenging to write about so I'll take all the help I can get. Thanks again!_

_-OT21_

* * *

I let the gray lump fall to the grass and quickly raised my hands in surrender. Meanwhile I heard the person from behind kick my wooden sword further away, making a disgusted sound in the back of her throat as she did.

"I don't know what's more pathetic. The fact you let a creeper get that close to you. Or that you're using a wooden sword."

I didn't argue since she was the one with the arrow poking into my spine but I let the shaky words fall from my mouth: "I-I'm not going t-to hurt you."

She snorted. "Obviously not since I'm the one with the weapon. What are you doing all the way out here?

"Um…I live here."

I didn't know if that was the best thing to say or not since it might give her an excuse to take me out and then take whatever she wanted from my home.

I had wondered nonstop if there were any other people in this place and if I would find them, but I hadn't stopped to think they might be just as dangerous as the monsters.

But thankfully my answer seemed to get her attention because she said next:

"You live here?"

"Y-Yeah. Not too far away. What about you?"

"And how long have you been here?" she insisted.

It probably wasn't a good idea to point out that she had totally ignored my question, so I let it go.

"Just a few days."

"Where are you from?" she snapped

"What?"

"Are you from a village? A city? A guild?"

"Um...neither?"

I felt the arrow press more firmly into my back, digging against my skin.

"I-I mean, I have no idea what a guild is!" I added quickly. "And if I am from a village or a city, I don't even remember!"

The pressure in my back suddenly went away. Even though I kept my hands raised, I let out a deep breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding. I heard the girl muttering to herself.

"That doesn't make any sense...How can you not know…? And no one in their right mind would live out here by themselves. Not with so many mobs roaming around. Hmm…no armor…no weapons…clothes are weird..."

I could feel her gaze on me but I didn't dare turn around in case she changed her mind about shooting me.

"You're a spawn, aren't you?!" She blurted it out so suddenly that I jerked with surprise.

"Um…a what?"

She ignored me and began talking to herself again. "But that's impossible. They were wiped out!"

"Wiped who out? I don't know what you're talking about," I ventured to say.

"Do you really not know?" she demanded impatiently.

"I don't think so..." I didn't have a better answer than that.

"Hmm...if you really are a spawn, why don't you remember anything?"

"How would I even know if I was this spawn-thing?"

I was met with silence and was going to ask again until she barked,

"Turn around."

Slowly, I obeyed and finally got my first clear look at her. She watched me steadily with suspicious green eyes and her bow and arrow loaded tightly in gloved hands. She stood only an inch taller than me with light chestnut hair that reached halfway down her back. It was messy with some leaves and grass clinging to it as well as her brown leather vest and long cream-colored tunic that stopped just above her knees. Her worn leather boots covered the rest of her body. She had a polished, silver sword strapped to one hip, an axe strapped to the other, and a leather bag a lot like mine slung across her shoulder.

Her eyebrows raised into her forehead as she stared back at me. She relaxed her grip on her arrow and let it drop so that the tip was pointing at the ground now instead of my chest.

She gasped quietly, "Your eyes..."

"My eyes?"

I knew they were blue. After I had woken up, the first thing I had craved was water and I practically dunked my head into the first lake I found. After coming up for air, I saw my own face for the first time. Other than that, I didn't think there was anything special about me or my eyes.

The girl was about to say something but instead her eyes flew up towards the sky which was slowly turning a darker shade of blue with a swash of orange near the horizon.

"Oh no," she moaned.

I hurriedly looked around, trying to remember the direction I had come from.

I could make it back home if I ran but the place would already be crawling with zombies, creepers, skeletons, and everything in between.

"Know where I can find some mushrooms around here?" I heard her ask.

"Mushrooms?"

She gave me an impatient look, so I quickly gave a better answer.

"Uh, yeah, they're practically all over the place that way." I pointed in the direction of the tall hills. "But we need to get out of here before—"

"Perfect."

She put her bow and arrow away and took her sword in hand. She walked past me to pick up the gray lump and weigh it in her hand, then she made her way up the hills.

She stopped halfway and turned back.

"You coming or what?"

She didn't have to tell me twice and I quickly picked my stuff off the ground and ran after her.

* * *

"Wooow!"

The girl stared up at the giant mushrooms which stood as tall as the trees, with red and white polka dot caps. I couldn't help but smile, remembering how I'd had the exact same reaction when I first found them.

"This is perfect! I'll be able to get more than enough to take home to Freyr and Wispy!"

She unhooked her axe and started chopping into the mushroom cap with tiny red mushrooms raining down with a light _pop!_

The bright square that was the sun only sunk deeper and deeper behind the horizon and it became harder to see the surrounding trees

I startled when I heard a distant gravelly moan of a zombie

"They're coming!" I yelped, gripping my sword tighter.

"Just relax," she said.

I turned and saw her digging a square hole into the ground where she planted one of the mushrooms. Then she pulled out a handful of white powder and held it over.

"You might want to watch your head," she told me.

I ducked my head and moved to stand closer to her.

She opened her fist, letting the powder sprinkle over the mushroom.

It instantly sprung into the air, growing ten times its size, and the cap ballooned out into a large, blocky dome that encased us in darkness. After putting up a torch on the spongy wall, the girl began chopping away the column-like stem in the center so there was enough space for us in the makeshift hut.

She then set up a crafting table in the furthest corner and a few seconds later, crafted a campfire which she set up in the middle. It didn't take long for the mushroom hut to warm up which felt great and was already making me sleepy. Of course it was just my luck that I had my brand new bed waiting for me back at home but I wouldn't even get to sleep in it.

I barely caught the loaf of bread the girl had tossed me, and watched her sit down to set two raw salmon on the fire before taking my first bite.

"Thank you," I said, sitting across from her.

She shrugged. "No problem. Nice little survival trick when you're away from home," she said before tearing a bite out of her bread.

We chewed our food with only the sound of the crackling fire interrupting the silence and smell of the salmon filling the air, until I finally dared to ask,

"So…who are Freyr and Wispy?"

"My guild-mates," she answered, poking at one of the fish.

"Guild-mates?"

"Yeah, we live together, share resources and money, go on quests, compete against other guilds, that kind of stuff."

I perked up a little. "So there are more of you? Not just guilds but…people?"

"Of course."

"Where?"

I must've sounded too excited because she stopped eating long enough to give me a strange look.

"Everywhere. Cities, towns, villages. I even passed a village on my way here," she answered. "Are you really out here on your own?"

"Yeah. I just...woke up. You're the first person I've seen at all."

"And you don't have any memories before that?"

I shook my head. I don't know why but saying all of this out loud to another person made it feel less lonely.

"What about your name?" she asked next.

I couldn't believe we had spent all this time together and didn't even know the most basic thing about each other.

"It's Kit." That was when I realized this was the first time I had said my own name out loud. "Who are you?"

"Miri," she answered finally. "Looks like the fish is done."

I nodded quietly, my stomach rumbling with impatience and took one of the charred fish from the log closest to me. It nearly burned my mouth, but I didn't care as the meat peeled off the sharp bones with ease. Having my first decent meal made all the fear and stress from before just melt away. I had survived another night and was ready to face tomorrow.

"What did you mean when you said I was a spawn. Is that what you are?" I asked through a mouthful.

"No. Spawns were a race that appeared here centuries ago. They invented crafting. But then they were all wiped out about ten years ago when the Wither was free.

"The what?"

"The Wither. That's what they called it. No one knows where it came from but it destroyed everything. Cities, villages, biomes." A dark expression clouded her face as she brought her knees up to her chest. "The spawns were the only ones who could fight it. And they did. Both sides destroyed each other. As far as everyone knows, there aren't any spawns left."

"How did you know I was one?"

She looked up from the fire and straight at me. "Your eyes. All spawns had blue eyes. And your clothes, most spawns were dressed like you."

I looked over my plain clothes and gray shoes, which were all dirty and seemed very plain compared to her outfit.

"It also explains why you don't have any armor," she added.

"Armor?"

She nodded. "Spawns are supposed to have impressive powers all on their own that they don't really need anything besides a solid weapon."

"Powers? Are you sure?"

"You don't have any?"

"Um, I don't think so."

I felt her sizing me up as I continued nibbling on what was left of my fish.

"Well, maybe not," she murmured. Then she straightened up and shot me a scolding glare. "_But_ you don't need powers to know not to take on a creeper up close. Don't you have a bow and arrow?"

"Of course I do. I found one from one of those skeletons. I just…left them at home," I offered lamely.

Her expression was anything but impressed and her green eyes glared at me like I was an irresponsible little kid.

Eventually, with the warmth of the fire seeping into our bodies and our stomachs full, we both settled down on the ground using our bags as pillows and drifted off to sleep.

* * *

_Fire._

_I was bathed in fire and screams. I couldn't see and when I tried to speak, smoke filled my lungs. Where were they? Why was I all alone?_

_I raised my arms to bang against the trapdoor over my head, but it barely budged. Something was blocking it. I tried calling for someone-anyone-to hear me but I couldn't make a sound. Then there was darkness._

"_Who's there?" I called._

_No one answered._

_A pair of glowing eyes stared at me, slowly closing in until the light swallowed me up._

* * *

Blinding sunlight hit me in the face as soon as I jolted awake. The campfire was gone and Miri was busy chopping away at our shelter with her axe and scooping mushrooms into her bag. I stood up and stretched the stiffness out of my body, missing my bed back at home all over again.

"Morning," Miri greeted me once she had collected the last of the mushrooms.

"Morning," I yawned. "So what's the plan for today?"

"Just collecting stuff to take home," she answered.

"Oh," I said, deflating a little. "When are you heading home?"

She shrugged. "Not sure. Probably first thing tomorrow morning."

I nodded. She was leaving already?

I didn't know why that bothered me so much. It was a different feeling to wake up and not be alone even though I thought I had gotten used to it.

"Ok, well...thanks for helping me out last night. And...you know, not killing me," I joked lamely.

She was too busy surveying the surroundings and trying to decide what to do next to hear me, so I grabbed my bag and started on my way back home.

"You know your way around here pretty well, don't you?" she called to me.

I turned back. "Um, yeah. Well enough."

"Know where I can find some coal?"

I nodded eagerly. "It's across the water though. You might have to swim—"

"A boat would be faster," she said matter-of-factly. "Can you show me?"

"Yeah!"

I felt a surge of relief and excitement and the day seemed much brighter all of a sudden as I led her through the forest and to the river.

It was weird being with another person, but it was the good kind of weird.

Having someone to talk made the same old day-to-day tasks seem much more exciting. Ever since I woke up, all I could think was that I really was the only person left in this world. I was almost ready to accept it, but now it felt like there was more waiting for me outside my tiny hidey-hole in the mountain.

We mined for coal, crafted tools (Miri showed me in my recipe book how to make a boat and stone pickaxe), found my first vein of iron ore, and explored the towering forest of dark oak trees.

All the while, Miri patiently answered every question that spilled out of my mouth. She told me all about the cities and villages she'd been to and the kinds of people she'd met from farmers to miners to warriors.

"I'm sure there's someone out there who could help you find what you're looking for," she added.

"But how would I even find them? Or even get to these places you're talking about?"

She frowned in thought and didn't answer right away.

"You'd have to go exploring, I guess. I passed a village on my way here. You could...come with me tomorrow and start there. Otherwise the closest city to our base is Illevale and all kinds of travelers and even some clerics come through."

Clerics?"

They use magic and potions. Some of them are even fortunetellers but it's never a guarantee since they're not as powerful as witches but"—she saw me open my mouth to ask another question and quickly added—"but that also means they're not as dangerous. A cleric is your best bet."

I nodded, slowly processing all of that overwhelming information. "I...I guess...but I don't know."

"Well, think about it." She turned to start chopping wood.

My mind raced. I didn't know what scared me more: leaving the safety of my hidey-hole and everything that had become familiar, exposing myself to monsters, or being left alone again if I didn't leave.

A gurgling growl cut through the silence. We spun around to find ourselves face to face with two grumpy zombies.

"What are they doing here? I thought all the monsters disappeared during the day," I yelped, frantically reaching for the hilt of my sword.

I stumbled back but Miri confidently darted forward for the zombie on the right, her iron sword raised for the first strike. She struck it on the head which knocked it into the other zombie and sent both tumbling backwards.

I was already impressed. Not just with her moves but the fact that she wasn't even a little bit scared of them. The zombies crawled to their feet, growling furiously. The one she hit swiped at her but she nimbly danced to the side.

I didn't have a chance to see what happened next because the other zombie was already closing in, reaching for me with moldy fingers. I didn't know what else to do other than swing my sword wildly. I hit it and knocked it back a few steps. It grunted angrily but still kept coming.

I swung again, trying to mimic Miri's moves but I was too slow and the zombie had already batted at me with its arm. I felt a sharp sting as it tore through my sleeve with its jagged, yellow nails. I staggered and nearly dropped my sword, grasping at my shoulder. When I looked at my hand, there were light stains on blood on my fingers.

The zombie trudged towards me. I don't remember my body moving or even my brain sending it the message to, but it was only a foot away from grabbing me when I swung my sword and managed to slice it between its shoulder and neck. It fell over like a stiff piece of wood, landing in a patch of sunlight that had slipped through the branches. It burst into flames and even though I was a safe enough distance away, I could feel the heat on my face and neck. And just as suddenly, the zombie disappeared with a poof, leaving behind a chunk of slimy, moldy flesh.

My heart pounded in my ears and my legs were shaking so much I was surprised to still be standing. My shoulder stung as if a dozen bees were attacking it over and over.

"You ok?" Miri asked, coming up beside me. She had already defeated the other zombie.

"Y-Yeah. You?"

She pointed at my shoulder. "It doesn't look too deep. You might just want to wash it"

I took a deep breath just when I heard a hollow _crack!_

I lifted my sword to see that it had split nearly in half, held together only by splinters

"I guess it's time for a new sword."

* * *

By nightfall, I had a brand new iron sword, a belly full of beef and mushrooms soup, and four iron ingots left over in the furnace. We were back to my home in the mountain with Miri setting her bed up across from mine and I could hear the monsters (or mobs, she corrected me) outside.

But for the first time I wasn't terrified by it.

I had fought my first zombie today and—while I wasn't in a hurry to do it again—I kept playing the fight over in my head and felt a surge of confidence.

Miri was already yawning as she took inventory of all her findings while she sat on her bed. This reminded me that, by this time tomorrow, she'd be gone. And I'd be alone again.

The thought weighed heavily on my mind as I put the iron ingots in my chest. Other than a few essentials, I didn't have much stuff. Nothing I couldn't find again.

Would it really be so bad to leave?

But what if I didn't find anything and I was no better off that I already was?

I closed my chest and climbed under my blankets.

We didn't talk much for the rest of the night and I wondered if she was afraid to ask me if I had made my decision.

"Night," she said before turning on her side so her back was to me.

"Night," I replied quietly, then took down the torch on the wall and let darkness swallow the room.

* * *

_And that's it for Chapter 2! I'm glad this one is a little longer compared to the last one and hopefully, more interesting things are happening._

_Thanks for reading!_


End file.
